Interesting.
The World Economic Forum, an annual event held at Davos, a Swiss mountain resort, is a somewhat somber meeting this year..
There are few less bankers.. hedge-fund operators.. schmoozing with the usual crowd of Economic Ministers and advisers..
They've even gone back to wearing suits and ties.. a practice semi-formally discarded a few years ago..
This will be a meeting without American participation.. Barack's told his new Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, to stay home this year and get to work on something more productive..
We'll see who's really going to be willing to lay their hands on the table over the next few days. Something to keep an eye on..

Some bright news.. this time from a survey of business owners throughout the country..
The consensus appears to be that we're in this for the long, rather than the short, haul. A mere 21% of those polled felt their business had a chance of growing in the immediate future. That's down from 50% a year ago..
And, there is a growing sense of disquiet.. that the banks, having received so many billions of Pound from the Treasury, have yet to pass this money down to their customers..
One can imagine the public outcry when the end of year figures are released, if the Banking Sector declares anything near a profit..

Sri Lanka is in an uproar again, with the Government stepping up it's attack on Tamil Tigers..
This, if nothing else, is a prime example of how we, as a collective, are capable of taking a paradise, and turning it into hell on earth..
It must be in our genes.. but that's yet another topic for another time..